Huawei eyes 10% market share in 3 yrs

MANILA, Philippines - Huawei Technologies Philippines hopes to increase its market share in the country’s smartphone market by five-fold over the next three years banking on its high quality and competitively priced products.

Gavin Dai, Huawei Technology Philippines chief executive officer, said the company is looking at gradually increasing its market share in the Philippines to about five percent next year and to 10 percent in 2015 from the current share of less than two percent.

Dai said there is a lot to be done in the Philippines where it is ranked 10th or 11th despite the fact that it is among the top three smartphone vendors in the world based on the 3rd Quarter 2013 IDC market research report.

To address this, he pointed out that Huawei intends to put up five flagship stores in the country next year.

He said two stores would be established in Metro Manila and one each in Cebu, Davao, and Cagayan de Oro.

According to him, Huawei has also partnered with Smart Communications Inc. of dominant carrier Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) and Ayala-led Globe Telecom Inc. to carry its products.

Dai said the company is building a brand, putting an emphasis on quality, technology, fashion, and competitively priced.

“We will build our own brand,” he stressed.

Huawei marketing head Al Dimapilis said Huawei is looking at becoming the no. 1 smartphone maker in the world over the next two to three years.

“Nothing is impossible. We see possibilities all over the world. Huawei can be on top in the next two to three years,” he added.

Dimapilis said Huawei is investing in building the brand locally to make great technology available to all Filipino consumers.

“Building our own brand and putting our name on our products for consumers is the way forward as we grow to offer a range of products that include smartphones, mobile broadband devices, home devices, clouds, and consumer chipsets,” he said.

Huawei transformed to a business to consumer company from a traditionally business to business company in 2012 and to a Huawei brand original equipment manufacturer (OEM) from a non-branded original design manufacturer.

The company launched the new five-inch quadcore Ascend G610, 4.5-inch quadcore Ascend G525, 4.0 dual core Ascend Y320, and 3.5 dual core Ascend Y220 with a suggested retail prices starting at P2,850.

It also introduced the limited edition Kitty Pink Huawei Ascend P6 as well as several tablets.